Mining machine



y r 1931. J. E. DILLON 1,803,547

MINING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12. 1928 s Sheefts-Sheet 1 :12 Dillon J. E. DILLON MINING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 5, 1931. J. E. DIL bN 1,803,547

MINING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 gwoentoc I zllarz dttozmu Patented May 5, 1931" PATEN murmi ime i This invention relates to machines, and particularly tomeans whereby the cutter bar may be swung laterally toward or from the track center whilethe machine being 1 moved around. curves or switches 'of 'short radius.

, Initsthe cutter bar' to be swunglaterallyin on eidirection or the other" toward the track i ao " v Machines oftbischaracter project beyond the front jax'lesucha distance as-to make the movement of the machine from place to place impossible "unless some or the unsupported length of the machine projecting beyondlthe front axleiis] capable of movement relativeto the center of the roadway. The. cutter barf ofthese machines is ordinarily about ,tenfeet long and pivotedat-the rear end, which percenter so that itflwill not strikefan-entry or pillar While themac'hine 'is' be'ing moved aroundcurves. This'movementfor steering purposes must be'relatively rapid. Heretofore this movement of; the lc utter bar for steering, purposes has been accomplished by manual means, as'for instance pushing on the cutter bar to shift it.

' The generalpurposeofthe present inven- V tionis to provide an auxiliary motor mountedupon'the miningma chine in connection with the swinging cutter bar and so connected to the cutterbar as to cause its swinging 'move-' nient in'one direction or the other'in order to steer-the machine while the machine is movin witho'ut actuating thecutters of the cutter ar.

Afurther object. is to' so connectlthisfauxile iary motor tothefcutter bar 1 swinging and knife operating mechanism; that the usual driving shaft, whereby the cutter bar is fed and the cuttingf chain'operated, may be disengaged from the cutter bar and the cutting mechanism and the cutter bars'wun'fby this auxiliary motor, the auxiliary inotordi electric motor and connected-in any suitable 7 electric circuit including. a controller for the purpose of driving the auxiliary motor either in one-"direction or the other to thusiswing the cutter bar in one directionor the other for the purpose ofsteering the machine.

m'achine -tocut c'oalf secures an increase in the productive efliciency of the machine of approximately 25% and -ment; a A V 4 .Fig; 3", is a horizontal section on' an err larged scale showing the mechanism whereby of the clutch by an operator bar is engaged 'with the worm eing an bar independentlyof the movement other 7 parts of the machine to thereby facilitate the transportation, of the machine and efie cta saving'm the time requiredFto position the This sav ng of ti me also considerably reduces transportation hazard.

Other objects will" appearzniorelfully the course of the following description; "Myinvention is illustrated'in the" accompanying drawings wherein' F1gure1 is a top plan view of a mining chine 'havingmy improvementapplied there t0 I 1 h v V Tig. Qis a side elevationfof the forward end ofthe thec utter bar is swung;f Fig.4 is a detailed view.

,machine showing my improve- I whereby the supporting bracket for the cutter wheel; r

.Fig. 5 is a diagram'showing themotor'and V V the reversing switch ;.and

' Fig.6 is a fragmentary sectionon the line i 66"of Fig.3; v .v n n g In the drawingsl have illustrated the common and well known type of mining ma chine which includes the body 10" mounted vided with'a'cab 12 at'the rear end; and the motor *13 with the usual controls. Mounted upon wheeled truck 11, the body being proj upon the forward end of the body is thene'ck 1 whichis the term bywhich this parti's known inthe trade, and carriedupon a this neck is: the link 15 and the sublink' 16. All

these parts are common andwell know'n 'and require ne -particular description Mounted upon the forwardend of the link 15 isf'the head 17 within which, is disposed a shaft 18 uponwhichis mounted the sprocketgwheel 19. The cutter bar designated 20 is of the usual form adapted to provide a channel, for an. endlessfchain 21' carrying cutters 22.

i V ,jThe means whereby the shaft 18i's rotated b Afurtherobject is to provide a mechanism] of this character 'which' will swing the cutter andtheendless chain of cutters operated forms no part of the presentinvention and may be of any usual or suitable character. The cutter bar is supported by means of a forked supporting bracket 23 which extends above and below the head 17 and is rotatable around an axis coincident with the axis of the shaft 18. Mounted above the upper branch 24 of the fork is a worm wheel 25 and associated with the bracket 23 is means designated generally 26 whereby the bracket may be clutched directly to the worm wheel 25 or unclutched therefrom so as toleavethe bracket free to be shifted or swunglaterally independently of the wheel 25.

The clutch 26 is a half worm, the blank side of which is turned to the worm wheel '25, whenthe clutch is disengaged. The

threaded side engages the .worm wheel 25 when the clutch is engaged.

The worm wheel 25 is ordinarily swung laterally for feeding movement by thenfollowing mechanism: Disposed within the sublink 16 and mounted in suitable bearings therein is a traverse shaft 27 which carries upon it at one end the bevel gear wheel 28 in turn meshing with a pinion 29 on a shaft 30 which carries upon it the worm 3 1 This worm engages a worm wheel 32 mountedupon a worm shaft 33, this shaft being mounted in suitable bearings upon this sub-link. The worm shaft 33 in turn engagesthe worm wheel 25. The shaft 27 is commonly driven by means of the two opposed bevel gear wheels 34 and 35 loosely mounted'upon the shaft 27, as for instance upon sleeve 36fcarried by this shaft. Disposed betweenthese bevel gear wheels 34 and 35'is a drivingpinion 37 mounted upon a driving shaft 38having operative engagement with the shaftsection 39 which in turn extendsto or is:operatively driven from the motor 13 or any other suitable motor. Mounted upon the shaft 27 is the sliding clutch 40 whichis shiftable by means of the usual shipper lever 41 intoengagement with one or the other of the gear wheels34 or 35. By these means the shaft 27 may be driven in opposite directions and thus the worm wheel 25 shifted in one direction or the other to thusshift the cutter bar or. swing it in one direction or the other. So far I have described mechanism which is commonly found on mining machines of the type indicated. Commonly, however, the shaft 27 terminates at the dotted line as.

. My invention contemplates the extension of this shaft 27 transversely through the sublink 16 at both ends and the mounting on the end of the shaft 27 opposite the gear wheel 28 of a bevel gear wheel 42. This'is engaged by a bevel pinion 43 constituting the commutator shaft of the electric motor designated generally 44. I

This electric motor is connected by suitable conductors to a source. of current and to a reverse controller 46 whereby the current passng to the motor may be either cut off en- .eutter bar is of necessity very slow ranging around short curves should be approximatetirely or reversed. When the current is cut ofl entirely'and the shaft 39 is operating, then the cutter bar will be caused to swing by the usual and commonly found mechanism, well understood by those skilled in the art. If however, the clutch 40 be placed in its neutralposition, then the cutter bar may be swung by means of the motor 44 acting through the train of mechanism which I have stated.

The cutter chain 21 is, of course, driven by mechanism disposed within the head 17 as is usual-in mechanisms of this character and is notccontrolled or operated by the worm wheel 25 which worm wheel is merely for the purpose ofshifting the cutter bar supporting mechanism. The neck 14 is mounted as usual for rotation around a longitudinal axis and this permits the cutter bar to be swung either vertically or horizontally at an angle, between the vertical and horizontal, depending, of course, upon the position of the neck 14 relative to the body of the machine. This construction formsono part of my present invention but ispresent in mining machines of r th1s class. V

v The function of the cutter bar feed shaft .39 isto feed the cutterbar across the face when cutting coal. This movement of the from twenty-two inches per minute totwenty-four inches per minute andin this .class .ofmachines this feeding movement of the cutter bar can only be accomplished when the cutting mechanism is in operation and is, muchtooslow to serve as a means for swinging the cutter bar while the machine is being moved about the mine.

If the cutterbar were swung at this slow rate while thejmachine was being transported, it would greatly retard the transportation of the machine and create a hazard by allowing the cutter andmechanism to operate while moving themachine. The rate of movement of the cutter bar desired when r the machine is travelling and in order that the machine may besteered in a more or less circuitous course through entries or by pillars and while the machine 1s belng moved 1y thirty-five feet per minute and my construction provides a power unit and control for the cutter bars of mining machines which is operable independently of the operation of other parts of themachine and which does I away entirely with the necessity of disconnecting the cutter bar from its shaft and cutter driving mechanism and then manually shifting the cutter bar. While I have illustrated the particular arrangement of the parts which have been found to be very effective, I do not wish to be limited thereto as the .mechanism might be modified in many ways to embody the same principle of operation without departing from the spirlt of 1 the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is-- V I 1. In a mining machine of the character described, a cutter bar mounted for swinging movement, means for swinging, the cutter bar including a worm wheel and worm, means for driving the cutter bar including a transverse shaft having adriving connection to m the worm, opposed bevel gear wheels loosely mounted upon the shaft, an intermediate power driven bevel gear engaging both of the first named bevel gear wheels, a; clutch for op eratively connecting the shaft to either one a of the first named gear wheels or disconnecting the shaft from either of the bevel gear wheels, a bevel gear wheelmounted upon said shaft for rotation therewith, an electric motor having its armature shaft operatively engaged with the last inamedbevel gear wheel, v,

and a reversing controller for said motor whereby the cutter bar may be shifted either by the main power operated shaft or by said motor. i v "1 2. In a mining machineof the character 7 described a body, a neck, a link" mounted upon the neck for movement in a vertical plane, asub-link operatively mounted upon the neck and above the link for movement with the'link in a vertical plane, a head pivotally engaged with the link and sub-linkto maintain a horizontal position in all positions of thelink and sub-link, a cutter bar rov tatably supported upon the head for swing- 36 ing movement, means for rotating the cutter bar including a worm wheel adapted to be operatively engaged therewith, a worm shaft engaged by the worm wheel, a worm wheel carried thereby, the worm shaft being sup- 40 ported upon the sub-link,a longitudinally extending shaft on the sub-link having a' worm at one endengaged by the last named V worm wheel and at its other end having a bevel pinion, a shaft extending transversely of and carried by the sub-link and having a bevel gear wheel at one end engaging said bevel pinion and carryinga bevel gear wheel at its other end, an auxiliary electric motor. having an armature shaft carrying a bevel pinion engaging the last named bevel gear,

wheel, a reversing controller for the motor, I bevel gear wheels mounted loosely upon the V transverse shaft, a manually operableclutch;

" 7 whereby either one of the last bevel gear wheels may be engaged operatively'with the shaft,and a power operatedshaft extending longitudinally ofthe machine and having a bevel pinion meshing with both of the last named bevel gear wheels. p e

In testimony whereofl hereunto afiix my signature. q r

I JAMES E. DILLON, V 

